bultemeier's posterous

November 19, 2008

lala vs. pandora

I'm finding myself dueling between them throughout the day. On the one hand, pandora comes up with new music but won't keep exploring that particular artist or group, on the other, lala allows me to explore albums at little to no cost but doesn't queue new music so easily. Which is better?

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November 18, 2008

John Richards

Wednesday is the last day to listen to John in the morning's Morning Show on the KEXP.org streaming archive for November 5th. A fortnight ago of Obama's 1st day as president elect. It was an extremely positive day, opportunities to relive the moment are fading. Thanks John, thanks KEXP.

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November 17, 2008

AVS Superb customer service!

http://www.avsupply.com/about_us.shtml

These guys are distributors but do unit sales to the public. Very professional staff. Send Audio Video Supply an email for a quote, can't hurt. I'll see if I can't get the TV from them.

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November 16, 2008

Let the big 3 go

Here is a great editorial for the case of not bailing out GM, Ford & Chrystler.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122669746125629365.html

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November 15, 2008

Bassnectar

Thinking about going to the Bassnectar show tonight http://www.myspace.com/bassnectar

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November 10, 2008

Steroid inject went OK today

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November 10, 2008

Linksys Wireless-G Music Bridge WMB54G

I've already mentioned how much we like to listen to streaming music online from services like Pandora.com & Lala.com not to mention KEXP.org and classical music from West Lafayette, WBAA. But we also have our own independent music collections, mine MP3s and some WMAs, Angie all I-tunes MP3s. We use different music players Winamp, MediaPlayer, I-tunes and our online music comes sometimes embedded in a browser and sometimes through a player. That's not even mentioning video!

So one solution is to have a bunch of wires coming out of the headphone jacks of our laptops and desktop computer—not real neat given that we have a wireless network for the internets J. Enter the Linksys WMB54G.

Basically after installation you open up the software or use the taskbar icon to switch between laptop speakers to the WMB54G. It switches the audio settings and starts sending it over your wi-fi network. The WMB54G can be plugged into the router or left by itself. The WMB54G has 3 or 4 outputs. Analog stereo RCAs & digital SPDIF (co-ax & optical) I think there is a line-out mini-jack too.

The sound is very good, although I have not been able to test direct SPDIF out from my laptop versus through the device. But, even as I type this, I'm hearing problems, break ups & drop outs—so it's not always smooth, but it usually is. Like all networked systems, it is only as good as the weakest link at any given time.

There is a comparable product in specs and price by Airlink. This week the Airlink model is $20 off at Fry's, only $30. I bought mine online from 3btech out of South Bend IN of all places, great service.

There is an update to the firmware from Linksys online. I recommend installing the updated firmware. It has to go on before the updated setup utility but I'm not sure if you can update it without having first gone through the setup with the installed firmware. Also, there remains a bug with Vista. You have to go to the executable, select application or something odd in the properties and select run as XP SP1 or something. Look it up in a linksys forum on the device.

Anyhow, this is a critical piece of the home hi-fi setup. I've even programmed the receiver to show "WI-FI" when I select it as input—fun! Of couse it sounds great in 7.1 channel stereo.

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November 09, 2008

HD-Radio

I am really geeked about HD-Radio, find out about it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_Radio. Pretty much every channel I listen to here in Seattle is now broadcasting in HD. There are a few channels with extra side-band stations like jazz24.org KPLU 88.5-2, and local indy on corp alt-rock KNND 107.7-2 'the end'. My fav channel 90.3 KEXP.org and distant 2nd c895worldwide.com just broadcast their original 1 channel but in HD. I don't know of any all-digital stations around--yet.

I can really hear the difference. The HD tuner takes about 5 seconds to lock on, but when it does there is an audible expansion of the frequency range and general clarity. It does sound comparable to CD quality. Anyhow this technology is slowly clawing its way into consumer market electronics. Despite that the broadcast is completely free--plain old terrestrial radio--one company Ibiquity apparently is the licensor of the technology, so manufacturers must pay a royalty to sell it. I think it is here to stay, if only because it gives existing channels affectively more bandwidth (one NPR news station 94.9 KUOW has 3 sideband channels--making 4 total of news, wow!). Look for it in your car stereos. Component tuners are available for around $100, and desktop/IPOD docking station systems are out there.

We bought an HD-Radio Jensen JiMS-525 for the bedroom which after the first one died and Staples.com replaced it hassle free, I'm pretty happy with. The sound quality of the speakers just sucks though--I bought a Creative 2.1 PC stereo speaker 'system' just to fix it, it now sounds decent. All told with rebate it was about $100. It has a good display with 2 alarms that can be set via remote control--a must for us.

I mentioned in a previous post about the Yamaha rx-v863 I sprang for to make the heart of the future HD-TV system I'm working on. A big part of moving up the Yamaha product line for that unit was the HD-Radio tuner. It is really nice. However, the tuner is actually somewhat less strong than the very cheap Jensen. It could be the room or any number of radio-frequency factors (we live in a steel/concrete condo surrounded by the same). I bought a modern looking TERK powered FM antenna and had to return that after disappointing performance. Now I have a powered Phillips jobbie with two giant poles (think tent poles), but it works good. I still don't get a strong enough 107.7-2 station for it tune directly as a preset--kinda odd.

Despite the fact that all of the (HD) radio stations I listen to out here I can listen to online, it is nice to just flip on the radio (or wake up) and have nice clear music. I'll get on with the computer/laptop/wifi installation bit in another post.

I now have 1 follower on lala.com :) Just figuring this technology out slowly, but I like what I hear all around.

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November 07, 2008

lala i can hear

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November 06, 2008

No Procedure

I'm not having the disk decompression Monday. Dr. Attaman's office only now figured out that Regence will not pay for it. I'll get another injection instead. My next step is the surgeon unless I want to pony up $5k or so. Disappointing to say the least.

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